Himeji
A Day trip from Osaka
This is my fourth trip to Japan. I could quite
easily make a list of top 5 traditional hotels in Japan or top 5 hot
springs, but when it comes to castles, there is one castle in Japan
that I have always wanted to visit, and yet never found the time.
Himeji.
For the easy traveler to Japan, Himeji is easy to get
to. Get out your rail pass, get on the shinkansen in Kyoto and
you are here in 45 minutes. For us, without rail passes (our
train itinerary didn't clear the $400 needed to buy the pass) this was
a 3000 yen trip from Osaka (and another 3000 yen to get back. The
500 yen admission fee was kind of a joke compared to the expense of
getting there.
Himeji stands out for a number of
reasons. Unlike some castles (like
Osaka Castle), it was never burned to the ground (4 times). It's
original (taken apparent and reassembled from time to time) and still
in original shape. There is no concrete floors, no elevator to
the top
floor.
One last thing stood out to me. This castle
wasn't rich. This castle was built on a river plane so there
wasn't a good local quarry to pull stone from. Consequently, the
stones are scavenged - what used to be a stone lantern here, a stone
coffin lid there. One tour highlight is a mill stone embedded in
the wall - apparently a gift from a local miller who figured
prominently in a publicity campaign (a few hundred years ago).
Even with all of this scrounging, the walls have a random look to them
- large gaps and lots of fill. Compared to other castles (Osaka
with it's huge stones, Kumamoto with it's tight stonework), it's quite
a comparison.
A huge bonus for this castle was our guide. The castle has a
program where foreigners (and in early February on a Thursday morning,
there aren't many), are matched up with locals who want to improve
their English and know about the castle. Our tour lasted well
over two hours and our guide walked us through lots of details about
the castle we would have missed. For instance, the layout of the
gates and entrance ways would have gotten us (or any other invader)
confused. Paths that lead toward the castle appear smaller and
leading away from the castle. The larger gates actually just
skirt the outside of the castle and lead to large open areas where the
people in the castle have an easy shot at invaders who don't gain
entrance.
The guide told us the history about how the castle was saved when so
many castles in Japan were destroyed (and later recreated).
Apparently around World War 2, castles were give to the military for
use. In some areas they were torn down to provide space for
storage or barracks. The need to space in Himeji wasn't that
urgent and since the castle was in good shape, a local man argued that
the castle should be preserved as an example. It took much work
to get the castle ready for use as a public museum, but it turned out
to be much more valuable (at least to the local economy) than any
storage site would be. I'm glad it was save.
Tags: Japan(14), castle(13), architectural decoration(3), roof(2), Do Not Tag(2), gate(2)
People: Helen(2), John(1), Mark(1)
From: John Harvey Photo > Trips out of the Country > A Fourth Trip to Japan > Himeji
From: John Harvey Photo > A Fourth Trip to Japan > Himeji
Last Modified Saturday, January 21st, 2023 at 23:48:01 Edit
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